Does Cardio After an

Overnight Fast Maximize

Fat Loss?
Brad Schoenfeld, MS, CSCS
Global Fitness Services, Scarsdale, New York

SUMMARY
THIS ARTICLE WILL REVIEW THE
EFFICACY OF A COMMON FAT
BURNING STRATEGY EMPLOYED
BY BODYBUILDERS, ATHLETES,
AND FITNESS ENTHUSIASTS
BASED ON CURRENT RESEARCH.
THIS STRATEGY IS TO PERFORM
CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE
EARLY IN THE MORNING ON AN
EMPTY STOMACH. THE THEORY
GIVEN FOR THIS STRATEGY IS
THAT A SHIFT IN ENERGY UTILIZATION AWAY FROM CARBOHYDRATES OCCURS, THEREBY
ALLOWING GREATER MOBILIZATION OF STORED FAT FOR FUEL.

common fat burning strategy

employed by bodybuilders, athletes, and fitness enthusiasts is to
perform cardiovascular exercise early in
the morning on an empty stomach. This
strategy was popularized by Bill Phillips
in his book, Body for Life (23).
According to Phillips, performing 20
minutes of intense aerobic exercise after
an overnight fast has greater effects on
fat loss than performing an entire hour
of cardio in the postprandial state. The
rationale for the theory is that low
glycogen levels cause your body to shift
energy utilization away from carbohydrates, thereby allowing greater mobilization of stored fat for fuel. However,
although the prospect of reducing the
body fat by training in a fasted state may
sound enticing, science does not support
its efficacy.

First and foremost, it is shortsighted to

look solely at how much fat is burned
during an exercise session. The human
body is very dynamic and continually
adjusts its use of fat for fuel. Substrate
utilization is governed by a host of
factors (i.e., hormonal secretions, enzyme activity, transcription factors,
etc), and these factors can change by
the moment (27). Thus, fat burning
must be considered over the course of
daysnot on an hour-to-hour basisto
get a meaningful perspective on its
impact on body composition (13). As
a general rule, if you burn more
carbohydrate during a workout, you
inevitably burn more fat in the postexercise period and vice versa.
It should be noted that high-intensity
interval training (HIIT) has proven to
be a superior method for maximizing
fat loss compared with a moderateintensity
steady-state
training
(10,26,29). Interestingly, studies show
that blood flow to adipose tissue
diminishes at higher levels of intensity (24). This is believed to entrap
free fatty acids within fat cells,
impeding their ability to be oxidized
while training. Yet, despite lower fat
oxidation rates during exercise, fat
loss is nevertheless greater over time
in those who engage in HIIT versus
training in the fat burning zone
(29), providing further evidence that
24-hour energy balance is the most
important determinant in reducing
body fat.
The concept of performing cardiovascular exercise on an empty stomach to

Copyright National Strength and Conditioning Association

enhance fat loss is flawed even when

examining its impact on the amount of
fat burned in the exercise session alone.
True, multiple studies show that consumption of carbohydrate before lowintensity aerobic exercise (up to
_ 2max) in unapproximately 60% Vo
trained subjects reduces the entry of
long-chain fatty acids in the mitochondria, thereby blunting fat oxidation
(1,14,18,28). This is attributed to an
insulin-mediated attenuation of adipose tissue lipolysis, an increased
glycolytic flux, and a decreased expression of genes involved in fatty acid
transport and oxidation (3,6,15). However, both training status and aerobic
exercise intensity have been shown to
mitigate the effects of a pre-exercise
meal on fat oxidation (4,5,24). Recent
research has shed light on the complexities of the subject.
Horowitz et al. (14) studied the fat
burning response of 6 moderately trained
individuals in a fed versus fasted state to
different training intensities. Subjects
cycled for 2 hours at varying intensities
on 4 separate occasions. During 2 of the
trials, they consumed a high-glycemic
carbohydrate meal at 30, 60, and
90 minutes of training, once at a low
intensity (25% peak oxygen consumption) and once at a moderate intensity
(68% peak oxygen consumption). During
the other 2 trials, subjects were kept
KEY WORDS:

fat burning; fat oxidation; lipolysis;

aerobic exercise; cardiovascular
exercise; interval training

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Cardio After an Overnight Fast and Fat Loss

fasted for 1214 hours before exercise

and for the duration of training. Results in
the low-intensity trials showed that
although lipolysis was suppressed by
22% in the fed state compared with the
fasted state, fat oxidation remained
similar between groups until 8090
minutes of cycling. Only after this point
was a greater fat oxidation rate observed
in fasted subjects. Conversely, during
moderate-intensity cycling, fat oxidation
was not different between trials at any
timethis is despite a 2025% reduction
in lipolysis and plasma Free fatty acid
concentration.
More recently, Febbraio et al. (9)
evaluated the effect of pre-exercise
and during exercise carbohydrate consumption on fat oxidation. Using
a crossover design, 7 endurancetrained subjects cycled for 120 minutes
at approximately 63% of peak power
output, followed by a performance
cycle where subjects expended 7
kJ/(kg body weight) by pedaling as
fast as possible. Trials were conducted
on 4 separate occasions, with subjects
given (a) a placebo before and during
training, (b) a placebo 30 minutes
before training and then a carbohydrate
beverage every 15 minutes throughout
exercise, (c) a carbohydrate beverage
30 minutes before training and then
a placebo during exercise, or (d)
a carbohydrate beverage both before
and every 15 minutes during exercise.
The study was carried out in a doubleblind fashion with trials performed in
random order. Consistent with previous
research, results showed no evidence of
impaired fat oxidation associated with
consumption of carbohydrate either
before or during exercise.
Taken together, these studies show
that during moderate-to-high intensity
cardiovascular exercise in a fasted
stateand for endurance-trained individuals regardless of training intensity
significantly more fat is broken down
than that the body can use for fuel. Free
fatty acids that are not oxidized
ultimately become re-esterified in adipose tissue, nullifying any lipolytic
benefits afforded by pre-exercise
fasting.

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It should also be noted that consumption of food before training increases

the thermic effect of exercise. Lee et al.
(19) compared the lipolytic effects of
an exercise bout in either a fasted state
or after consumption of a glucose/milk
(GM) beverage. In a crossover design,
4 experimental conditions were studied: low-intensity long duration exercise with GM, low-intensity long
duration exercise without GM, highintensity short duration exercise with
GM, and high-intensity short duration
exercise without GM. Subjects were
10 male college students who performed all 4 exercise bouts in random
order on the same day. Results showed
that ingestion of the GM beverage
resulted in a significantly greater excess
postexercise oxygen consumption
compared with exercise performed in
a fasted state in both high- and lowintensity bouts. Other studies have produced similar findings, indicating a clear
thermogenic advantage associated with
pre-exercise food intake (7,11).
The location of adipose tissue mobilized during training must also be taken
into account here. During low-tomoderate intensity training performed
at a steady state, the contribution of fat
as a fuel source equates to approximately 4060% of total energy expenditure (30). However, in untrained
subjects, only about 5070% of this
fat is derived from plasma Free fatty
acids; the balance comes from intramuscular triglycerides (IMTG) (30).

more experienced trainees (12,16,22,31).

It is estimated that nonplasma fatty acid
utilization during endurance exercise is
approximately twice that for trained
versus untrained individuals (24,32).
Hurley et al. (17) reported that the
contribution of IMTG stores in trained
individuals equated to approximately
80% of the total body fat utilization
during 120 minutes of moderateintensity endurance training.
The important point here is that IMTG
stores have no bearing on health and/or
appearance; it is the subcutaneous fat
stored in adipose tissue that influences
body composition. Consequently, the
actual fat burning effects of any fitness
strategy intended to increase fat oxidation must be taken in the context of
the specific adipose deposits providing
energy during exercise.
Another factor that must be considered
when training in a fasted state is its
impact on proteolysis. Lemon and
Mullin (20) found that nitrogen losses
were more than doubled when training
while glycogen depleted compared
with glycogen loaded. This resulted
in a protein loss estimated at 10.4% of
the total caloric cost of exercise after
_ 2max. This
1 hour of cycling at 61% Vo
would suggest that performing cardiovascular exercise while fasting might
not be advisable for those seeking to
maximize muscle mass.

IMTG are stored as lipid droplets in

the sarcoplasm near the mitochondria
(2), with the potential to provide
approximately two-thirds the available
energy of muscle glycogen (32). Similar
to muscle glycogen, IMTG can only be
oxidized locally within the muscle. It is
estimated that IMTG stores are approximately 3 times greater in type I
versus type II muscle fibers (8,21,31),
and lipolysis of these stores are maximally stimulated when exercising at
_ 2max (24).
65% Vo

Finally, the effect of fasting on energy

levels during exercise ultimately has an
effect on fat burning. Training early in
the morning on an empty stomach
makes it very difficult for an individual
to train at even a moderate level of
intensity. Attempting to engage in
a HIIT style routine in a hypoglycemic
state almost certainly will impair
performance (33). Studies show that
a pre-exercise meal allows an individual
to train more intensely compared with
exercise while fasting (25). The net
result is that a greater number of calories
are burned both during and after
physical activity, heightening fat loss.

The body increases IMTG stores with

consistent endurance training, which
results in a greater IMTG utilization for

In conclusion, the literature does not

support the efficacy of training early in
the morning on an empty stomach as

VOLUME 33 | NUMBER 1 | FEBRUARY 2011

a tactic to reduce body fat. At best, the

net effect on fat loss associated with
such an approach will be no better than
training after meal consumption, and
quite possibly, it would produce inferior results. Moreover, given that
training with depleted glycogen levels
has been shown to increase proteolysis,
the strategy has potential detrimental
effects for those concerned with muscle strength and hypertrophy.

Brad
Schoenfeld is
president of Global
Fitness Services.

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